


Emerald and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Mission

by digimaniac33



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26939413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digimaniac33/pseuds/digimaniac33
Summary: Before the Vytal Festival begins, Ozpin announces every team will be taking part in a mission around Vale, with a surprising twist. Emerald has the worst luck.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 20





	Emerald and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Mission

**Author's Note:**

> the inspiration behind this is.... honestly difficult to explain, but ultimately you can blame Cheryl of Sirs and Madams Entertainment for this one
> 
> (if you haven't checked them out go look up their youtube page, they are extremely awesome)

Emerald couldn’t understand how she’d ended up here.

Everything had been going according to plan - or, at least, that’s what Cinder had told them, since they didn’t exactly know what the whole plan was. Which was fine! They didn’t need to know every step ahead of time!

Anyway.

They’d managed to insert themselves into Beacon’s student life as Haven visitors, the CCT Tower had been properly infiltrated, and all they really had to do was wait for the Vytal Festival to begin so the rest of their plan could be put into motion.

And then Ozpin threw them all for a loop.

In some kind of inter-kingdom show of solidarity, he announced that all teams planning to attend the Vytal Festival would be scrambled for a one-time mission. He’d made some grand speech about it but Emerald had completely ignored it, too focused on how Cinder’s face had turned stone cold at the announcement. This clearly hadn’t been part of her plan, but she told the others to go along with it.

So Emerald had filed in with everyone else, praying for a reasonable team and a quick mission so she could get this over with. A little part of her was even looking forward to getting to avoid Mercury for a while.

And then her team was announced, and she knew her prayers had been completely ignored.

She could see the rest of Team PEAR all skipping along in front of her now - their leader was an overly bright and cheerful redhead from Atlas who seemed excited by every tiny thing in eyesight. Then there was Pyrrha Nikos’s dumb blond boytoy, and, of course, because the universe hated her personally, Ruby Rose herself.

Part of her wondered if Ozpin already knew what Emerald and the others were up to, and this was his style of punishment. She couldn’t imagine anything worse.

“Hey! Emerald!” Emerald focused on Ruby, who was now looking back and waving wildly. “Why are you walking all the way back there? Come on!”

This was definitely some kind of punishment.

While she was trying to think of some good reason they’d accept for why she should stay far, far away from them, Ruby was suddenly in front of her and grabbing her by the hand. “I know it’s a little tough to meet new people sometimes, but Jaune and Penny are really great! I know you’ll get along with them just fine.” Ruby smiled, now gently pulling Emerald’s arm to force her to walk alongside the others.

Emerald bit down her initial thoughts and just smiled back at Ruby. “Thanks, I’m not used to working outside my team. I’m glad you’re here, at least,” she lied through her teeth. Cinder’s plan hinged on everyone thinking they were Academy students, and Emerald was not going to be the reason they failed.

Somehow Ruby’s smile got even bigger and she practically skipped the rest of the way. “So, Jaune! Tell Emerald about that Ursa you fought last semester.”

Blond boy scratched the back of his neck nervously. “It wasn’t anything that great. I mean, your sister took out, like, three Ursai during initiation, didn’t she? That’s way cooler than one measly Grimm. If you guys had gotten there sooner it would’ve been over way faster.”

Ruby shrugged. “Well, we’ve got a lot of time we have to pass somehow, so unless you want me talking about the time your shield got - “

“Okay, okay! So, me and Team CRDL were, uh, hanging out…”

Emerald tuned out his boring story, her thoughts much more productively turning back to griping about the hellish situation she’d gotten into.

Because, due to the sheer volume of missions going on simultaneously, the airships of Beacon had been in short supply, and so of course the troupe of obnoxious do-gooders Emerald was stuck with had volunteered to hike part of the way to the village they were protecting. Meaning Emerald had to endure their company for an entire day and a half before the mission even really started.

“- But Cardin was covered in sap and I couldn’t just leave him to get eaten by an Ursa, so I grabbed my shield - “

It would be kinder to just put her out of her misery right now.

* * *

“It’s hard to believe there’s a village all the way out here,” Ruby said, starting a new conversation after far too many attempts at making up hiking songs.

Emerald could only attribute her remaining sanity to the fact that the blond idiot had left his guitar at Beacon.

“Yes, it is quite impressive that a sizable village has managed to maintain itself in this mountain range! The soil is far less nutrient-rich in this region than could be expected to support a reasonable farming community.” That was the red-headed Atlas weirdo, who managed to make every sentence sound like it came from the perkiest living textbook imaginable.

The blond nodded. What was his name? Emerald should probably at least pretend to know it - the person she was pretending to be would try. John or something. “We went to a similar place for our training mission - it was more northwest of Beacon rather than south, but still really nice. Mostly mining folks.”

“Oh.” The redhead’s constant energy actually dimmed a little. “I did not realize… I have seen mines, and they are not - “

“No, no!” John moved his hands frantically. “These places aren’t as bad as the ones I’ve heard of in Atlas, it’s all locally driven so they’re way more intense about safety and stuff. It’s hard to justify overworking someone when you share half your family.”

Ruby put a hand on the Atlesian girl’s shoulder. Her name was something with a P… Petra? Patricia? “I’m sure it’ll be fine, Penny.” Penny! That was it! Emerald tucked the name away so she could pretend to care about the girl later if necessary. “The most important thing is they need help, and we’ll be there to provide it. Right?”

And just like that, Penny was back to her thousand-watt energy level. “You are absolutely right, Ruby! I’m so glad I have you and Jaune here, we will surely be victorious together!” She gasped, her hands actually covering her mouth. “Oh, and I am glad you’re here with us as well, Emerald! I did not mean any offense, only that I have known Ruby and Jaune for a somewhat longer period of time.”

Emerald painted a smile on her face, though she couldn’t force herself to be even half as cheerful as these dorks. “Don’t worry, I understand. I guess that’s the whole point of these missions, right? To… foster new friendships.” Emerald cut herself short - if she said anything else she’d either be way too sarcastic or throw up from the overly saccharine words.

“Exactly!” Emerald’s efforts to not strangle the others earned her a surprisingly strong side hug from Ruby. She actually lost her breath for a second, how strong was this girl? “By the end of this trip, we are all gonna be besties!”

The other two children cheered. Emerald, unable to think of anything she could do besides murder them all, weakly cheered as well.

* * *

That evening, they found a spacious cave that would work perfectly as their camp for the night. The Atlas official working as their chaperone took care of their meal, leaving the others to chat inanely.

Just like they’d been doing all day.

Emerald was surprised her teeth weren’t worn down to the gums yet.

John built their fire, which was much better constructed than she’d expected from him. “My family goes camping a lot,” he explained. “Being in charge of the fire meant I didn’t have to do dishes.”

“Your family’s from Anima, right Jaune?” That was Ruby, munching on yet another snack she’d pulled from her apparently endless pouches. Emerald was almost impressed.

“Yeah, they live pretty far from Mistral, though. More of a farming town than a mining one.” He jabbed his thumb at his chest proudly. “You’re looking at the champion of carrot pulling here.”

Penny gasped, her hands over her mouth _again_. She did it every time. Emerald was keeping notes. “A champion? Really? Did you win a large trophy?”

John (or, Jaune, apparently) chuckled nervously. “Oh, no, it wasn’t anything huge, just bragging rights really.”

“That is still most extraordinary! How many competitors were there? Did you participate in duel-style bouts, or did everyone work at once? And how did - “

Ruby put a hand over Penny’s mouth, chuckling. “I don’t think it was that formal, Penny.”

A muffled “Oh” came from behind Ruby’s hand. When it was removed, Penny said, “My apologies, Jaune, I was just so very curious.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it, we’re all friends here.” Jaune caught Emerald’s eye and part of her seized up, trying to prepare for anything. “What about you, Emerald? Did you grow up near Mistral, or someplace else?”

“Oh, I’m… I’m not a small village kind of person.” Way too easy to get caught stealing when everyone knows everyone else. “I lived in a few of the bigger places, but I didn’t spend too much time in Mistral itself.” Too close to reckless, justice-seeking Huntsmen-in-training who would love nothing more than to prove their worth by taking down a petty thief or two. Just look at how Torchwick met “Little Red”, after all.

“A few?” Ruby tilted her head. “You moved around a lot, huh? Was it…” She blushed and stuttered, “Never mind, that was gonna be a super rude question that you shouldn’t have to answer! Just forget I said anything!”

Emerald shrugged, then belatedly laughed a little. They expected her to do something like that, right? Laugh off a little social faux pas? She almost said something, but the only thing she could think of was something dumb like “Who hasn’t lived in a couple dozen places?” Which was dumb because none of these pampered children had - they’d all grown up with a family, plenty of food, no worrying about whether they’d live to see another week. It was enough to make her sick to her stomach.

The faces around her changed, and for a moment she thought she’d let her real feelings show, that they’d seen how she hated them, but no one went for their weapons. Instead Jaune just lifted a hand towards her. “Hey, are you okay?”

Emerald blinked. What kind of question was that? “… Yeah?” She couldn’t tell if her tone was derisive or just confused. Hopefully they’d hear the latter. She was already way too close to blowing her cover.

“It’s just… you looked really sad for a second there,” Ruby said, her face mirroring the pity the other two had. Or, was it pity? It had to be. “Sorry if I brought up bad memories.”

“What? No!” Emerald scoffed, turning it into an awkward laugh at the last second. “I’m fine, really. Come on, guys, you’re acting really weird.”

Ruby frowned. “Okay, but… it’s okay to be sad you know. If that’s how you’re feeling. We could even talk about it, if you want.”

This was becoming a bigger disaster by the second. She needed to get out of here, but she couldn’t use her Semblance, Cinder’s plan relied on it being kept secret, and besides what were these kids going to do except stare at her? She was fine. They just needed to… stop _staring_ at her like that.

She was quiet for too long, but none of the others did anything until Ruby smiled. It wasn’t the same stupid, sugar-crazed, sunshine-and-rainbows smile she’d had all day. It was smaller… softer? Emerald didn’t like it. It felt like a trick. “It’s okay, Emerald. The offer’s always open.” The others chimed in with their own agreement.

Emerald just nodded. Suddenly, it felt like anything she said would be the wrong thing. The others switched to some lighter subject, and Emerald just stared into the fire. It was the only thing that made sense right now.

* * *

Sometime after midnight, Emerald came awake all at once. She didn’t move, kept her breathing low and even, trying to figure out what had awoken her. She quickly picked up two murmuring voices. They sounded like they were coming from the cave entrance.

Cautiously, she opened her eyes. Jaune and their chaperone were sleeping by the fire, but Ruby and Penny weren’t. Angling her head slightly, she could see two silhouettes against the moonlight. Sloppy - they should be up against the wall of the cave, not right in the center. She’d seen how the White Fang camps had set their sentries up.

Now that she was fully awake, if she concentrated she could understand what they were talking about. Probably nothing, but she had to know just in case they’d figured her out and were planning how to take her down.

“It’s truly sensational, getting to see the world like this. And I’m especially glad I have you here, Ruby.” Penny’s shoulders looked hunched, like she was trying to fold in on herself. “I’m very honored that Professor Ozpin selected me as the leader for this team, but I’m afraid I do not know how to be a good leader. I’m afraid I won’t be nearly as good as you or Jaune.”

“Hey,” Ruby said, reaching a hand out to Penny’s shoulder. “You’re gonna do great. I know you will.”

Penny’s hand covered Ruby’s. “Thank you, Ruby. I know my combat abilities are excellent, but I fear that is not the most important trait for a leader. This team is only temporary, I know, but I want to do my absolute best, and I’m not sure I can.” She paused, then continued in a rush, “I had no idea what to say to Emerald earlier. I do not know if I should have pushed her to talk, or offered a hug, or anything! You and Jaune, you knew what to do, and I just… sat there. Like a useless lump of metal.”

“Hey!” Ruby said warningly. Her hand moved and looked like she flicked Penny, though it sounded like she hit something metal. Maybe Penny was wearing armor under her clothes? Most people didn’t bother, trusting in their Aura to protect them, but maybe Penny didn’t have much. That could be useful information.

There’d been some flailing and whispers back and forth that she’d missed while calculating. Now, though, she heard Ruby say, “It’s okay if you don’t understand people perfectly. I still mess up a lot, and Jaune… well, he’s actually really good most of the time, but sometimes…” The pair laughed together quietly. Maybe Ruby had made a face? Whatever, didn’t matter. “With Emerald…” Ruby trailed off, and it seemed to Emerald like she was staring out into the woods. “I think I recognized that look on her face. It looked to me like she lost someone important to her, and I know how that feels. I think about my mom every day. I miss her a lot, but sometimes, I felt really angry at her. Sometimes I wanted to pretend I didn’t care about her at all.” Another pause. “I think that might be what Emerald’s doing, pretending not to care about whoever she lost. I don’t really know, this is the most I’ve ever really talked to her, but somehow she feels really… sad to me. Underneath the smiles, I mean.”

Emerald tensed in anger. How weak did Ruby think she was? She wasn’t _sad_ , sadness was something pampered brats made up so they had an excuse for what miserable failures they were. There was nothing sad about Emerald’s life! They were the sad ones, with their quiet words and annoying laughter and _carrot pulling competitions_. They had no idea what the real world was like. No idea at all.

The two girls were still talking, but Emerald was done listening. Her cover was still good, mostly thanks to the stupidity of her enemies, and she needed to be well rested for the day to come.

As she drifted back to sleep, Emerald ignored the small part of her that found the quiet murmurs comforting.

* * *

They finally arrived at the village in the late morning. There’d been no mention of… _whatever_ last night was about, and Emerald wasn’t going to push her luck. They just needed to clean up some Grimm, call in their ride home, and she could put this whole surreal experience behind her.

They were met by the village head, a lady with the kind of no-nonsense look that usually kept Emerald a mile away. People like her tended to ascribe to older ideals of punishments for any thieves they caught, and Emerald liked her hands where they were, thank you.

Penny and Ruby took care of getting the details, but Emerald was surprised to find Jaune hanging back with her. “Shouldn’t you be up there, leader man?” Emerald asked, gesturing sarcastically at the girls before remembering she’s not supposed to be sarcastic.

Jaune didn’t catch her slip, though. He just shrugged, saying, “Ruby asked me to give Penny some space so she can do the whole leader thing herself, and, well, I can definitely relate to her on that. It’s tough being a leader, especially when you’re not sure you can be a good one. So, I’m here with you! Totally supportive teammates, sending the good vibes.” He made some wiggling motions with his arms. Emerald just raised an eyebrow. This was the person Pyrrha Nikos let be the leader of her team? It boggled the mind.

He stopped his weird arm movements when it was obvious Emerald wouldn’t join in. “Heh, sorry, guess I’m used to having Nora around to be the wacky one. I’m not very good at it.”

He probably expected some kind of response to that, right? “I get it. We’ll be back with our regular teams soon.”

Jaune shrugged. “Oh sure, I’m looking forward to getting back to the dorms, but… I mean, it’s kinda nice working with new faces, right?”

“Oh - totally!” Emerald lied through her teeth. “This has been a… great experience.”

Jaune laughed, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “Exactly! Hey, maybe after the tournament’s done we can all get together and have a huge party. That’d be fun, right?”

Emerald tensed up. There wasn’t any chance that was going to happen, not with Cinder’s plans about to kick off. But he wouldn’t know, couldn’t know, so there was only one real answer she could give. “Yeah, that would be… super.”

“Great! It’s a plan then!” Oh - “ he dropped his arm from Emerald’s shoulder - “I think Penny’s got a game plan for us. She looks excited about something, at least.”

Emerald took the chance to make sure her face looked relaxed. Something about what Jaune had said had given her some kind of adrenaline rush. She needed to calm down.

* * *

The plan was simple. A group of Ursai had taken over one of the mineshafts in the area. There weren’t too many of them yet, and the shaft in question was isolated from the ones currently in use, but it was still a problem that needed to be taken care of.

Penny had Ruby and Emerald go in first, scouting for any surprises. She went next, her swords deployed already (and that had to be some kind of crazy Semblance at work or something - the fight would give her the opportunity to learn more, hopefully), and Jaune took up the rear, his shield prepared to block anything trying to sneak up on them.

Simple, methodical, extremely boring. Hopefully that meant they could wrap this up quickly.

First contact was easy - the shaft opened into a natural cavern where four Ursai were lying in wait. Ruby pushed forward in a burst of rose petals, slicing at the furthest Ursa with her scythe. Emerald peeled to the side, giving some covering fire as Penny wheeled in and sliced away with her array of swords. Two of the Ursai fell quickly enough, but Emerald could see more coming from other entrances. “Watch the tunnels!” she shouted, still shooting at any Ursa she saw.

“Ruby!” Penny shouted and gestured - enough of a signal for Ruby to switch tacks, harassing the Ursai coming in with her sniper rifle. “Jaune!” That shout gestured him forward. He focused on the outliers while Penny stayed in the middle of the fray, her swords dancing across the battlefield.

Emerald stuck to covering fire until an Ursa got past Ruby and barreled towards her. Switching to sickles, she dove past the Grimm, slicing its arm along the way. She ducked under its retaliating swipe and stabbed into its gut with one blade, swiping across its neck with the other. One more dodge of its biting maw, a final stab, and it was down for the count.

The battle looked mostly done from where she stood - Ruby and Penny were fighting next to each other now, Ruby curving her scythe between the paths of Penny’s blades. She couldn’t see Jaune, though. Where was - 

“Look out!”

Jaune’s shout came from directly behind Emerald - she turned and found him bracing his shield against a Beringel. How had it snuck up on her? She was getting complacent, sloppy. Gripping her blades tight, she darted past Jaune to engage the primate Grimm.

Her sickles did much less damage against the Beringel - she barely gave it a few scratches with her first pass and had to practically drop to the floor as it swung to meet her. “A little help here, guys!” Jaune yelled as he swung his sword, trying to cut through the Grimm’s thick skin.

A loud sniper shot answered his cry, cracking across the Beringel’s jaw. That distracted it long enough for Emerald to regain her footing and check on her other teammates. Penny had three more Ursai to take care of, but Ruby was already on her way, a red blur across the battlefield.

The Beringel had to be distracted. Emerald leaped up and stabbed her sickles into its back, unloading bullets into it. When it tried to swat her off, Jaune stabbed under its arm, leaving Ruby an opening to slice into its chest. They were all just surface wounds, though. None of them could do enough damage to take this thing out.

“Emerald!” She looked up and saw Penny alone, no other Grimm for her to defeat. “Get its legs!” Trusting the Atlesian girl had some kind of plan, Emerald pulled her blades free and dropped between the Beringel’s legs. Using the chains on Thief’s Respite, she tied up the legs as quickly as she could, barely aware of Jaune and Ruby harassing the Beringel so she could work in relative peace. A bright glow caught her attention, and she looked up to see Penny charging some kind of beam. “Get clear, now!”

Emerald was moving before she even thought about what she was seeing. Behind her, a brilliant light lit up the cavern, and she turned to see nothing remaining of the Beringel.

Quiet fell over the room.

“Well,” Jaune said finally. “That was a thing.”

* * *

The trek back to the village was quick, as was the wait for their ride home. The village head was surprised and impressed that they’d tangled with a Beringel. “I’ll have to give the headmaster the finest compliments for sending such capable students,” she said, which made Emerald roll her eyes. No one caught her at it, so it was fine.

The ride back was filled with overly enthusiastic conversation, this time a constant rehashing of the battle. Most of Ruby’s contributions were just various sound effects with the others’ names and an occasional verb thrown in. “And then boom! I turn around and Jaune is facing a Beringel, just his shield between Grimm and Emerald! I mean how cool is that?!”

“Stop, it’s no big deal,” Jaune tried to say, but Ruby was having none of it. “No big deal? You should’ve been flattened but instead you were just like whoooaaaaaa!”

Emerald chuckled. “I’m glad you were there, at least. I liked not getting pasted into the wall, myself.”

Jaune shrugged, smiling now. “What else are friends for, right?”

Emerald smiled back and turned to watch the scenery fly by. It took her longer than it should have to realize she hadn’t thought about pretending for any part of that conversation.

* * *

Beacon was burning.

From their vantage point on the roof, Emerald could see everything. She watched as the people of Vale fled from burning buildings and the gunfire of the White Fang, only to turn back in the face of a pack of Grimm. She tried to drum up some satisfaction, some sense of justice finally being done, but all she felt…

“It’s almost sad.”

“It’s horrendous.” Cinder’s reply was the only reason Emerald realized she’d spoken out loud. Beside her, Cinder directed Mercury towards any especially heinous acts they could broadcast, especially the atrocities of the Atlesian robot military. All Emerald could do was watch.

She’d done this. She’d played her part in Cinder’s plan perfectly, and this was her reward. A burning city, a populace in chaos, and one dead girl.

A dead _robot_.

A _broken_ robot.

...

Mission accomplished.


End file.
